There are a variety of conditions that can affect an individual's health and well-being. The treatment of various conditions that affect the health and well-being of an individual has been around for centuries and in general, the armament of treatment options available to a physician to treat such conditions has increased tremendously, especially in the last century.
However, because of the increase in available treatment options, often times an individual suffering from a variety of different conditions must be administered multiple, different drugs, each intended to treat one of the conditions. For example, many individuals suffering from cardiovascular conditions may be required to adhere to a tedious and exacting schedule of consuming multiple pills throughout a day, where the number of pills may be as much 20 pills a day or more. These types of treatment regimes not only impact an individual's quality of life, but also contribute to rising health care costs. For example, it is estimated that in 2000 health care spending rose to $1.3 trillion in the United States. A large part of this expense is due to the costs of drugs.
As such, there continues to be an interest in the development of new protocols for treating medical conditions.